The present invention relates generally to children's ride-on vehicles. More specifically, the invention concerns a children's ride-on vehicle having a front steering column that mounts a motor and gear-train housing and a front axle for pivoting with the steering column about a first vertical axis to steer the vehicle. The vehicle has a rear axle pivotal about a second vertical axis and tied to the motor housing by a rod which pulls or pushes the rear axle to pivot it about the second vertical axis, thereby reducing the turning radius of the vehicle.
Children's ride-on vehicles are designed both to minimize the dangers to the children that ride them and to be built at a minimum cost to make them available to as many children as possible. One danger in the vehicles, as with any toy with large moving parts, is that a child will get a finger trapped and pinched between the moving parts. To avoid this danger, the parts are designed not to move close enough together to pinch. For example, wheels which are movable to steer and which are near to vehicle fenders or bumpers are stopped from moving too close to the fenders. This, however, limits the turning radius of the vehicles which makes the vehicles more difficult for children to turn effectively. Another danger in a small turning radius is a relatively high lateral g-force applied to the vehicle and the child during turning, raising the likelihood of the vehicle's tipping or the child's falling, especially when the vehicle is operated along a slope.
To minimize the cost of the vehicles, they are designed with as few parts as possible, especially metal parts. Many of the vehicles are made with a rack-and-pinion or similar style steering in which the steered wheels are turned relative to a fixed axle. However, this type of steering has a complex, expensive structure with several metal parts. A less expensive steering structure mounts an axle to be pivoted about a vertical axis for steering. Such axle mounts, especially when designed to avoid pinch points, result in a large turning radius.
The present invention provides a new steering design which is inexpensive and simple in construction because all moving parts of the steering assembly are plastic. At the same time, the design avoids the dangers of pinch points by not allowing the steered wheels to come too close to fenders and bumpers and still provides a relatively small turning radius. In this vehicle, a motor and gear-train housing is pivotally mounted at the front of the vehicle and a handlebar is operable by a child to pivot the housing about a vertical axis. A front axle is fixedly held in the housing and mounts two wheels which are rotatable under the motor's power for driving. The pivoting about the vertical axis is limited to 7-degrees in each direction so that the wheels never come closer than 3/4-inches to a fender or bumper. A rear axle is also mounted to be pivotal about a vertical axis and is tied to the housing by a bar which pushes and pulls the rear axle to pivot it about the vertical axis in the opposite direction of the front axle, thus providing a turning radius equivalent to a 14-degree turn of one axle alone without the consequent pinching danger and also with a lower lateral g-force than the single-axle-steering vehicle. The steering system is, nonetheless, inexpensive to make and easy to assemble. The gear train includes a throw-out gear to disengage the motor from the wheels for easy pushing of the vehicle.
A general object of this invention is to provide a child's ride-on vehicle which is inexpensive and easy to assemble, both initially at the factory and finally at the home. A further object of this invention is to provide a vehicle with front wheel drive to reduce the size of the wiring harness. Yet another object of this invention is to provide a steering assembly that includes a modular motor and gear train housing that can be easily detached from the vehicle and shipped for repair, should that become necessary.
Another object of this invention is to provide a steering mechanism that avoids any pinching danger, but also provides a turning radius small enough that a child can effectively operate the vehicle in a small area. Another object of the invention is to provide such a vehicle with a small turning radius but with greater stability during turning and less danger of the vehicle's tipping or the child's failing off. Yet another object of the invention is to allow the vehicle to be pushed easily by allowing the motor to be disengaged from the wheels when the motor is off. A further object of the invention is to provide the vehicle with a forward center of gravity to reduce the danger of tipping backwards when the vehicle is pushed.
Yet another object of this invention is to provide a vehicle with easily operable controls to allow children as young as 1-year old to drive it.
These and additional objects and advantages of the present invention will be more readily understood after a consideration of the drawings and the detailed description of the preferred and alternative embodiments.